Dylan ask about food forest spacing :
“ I have ( a ) question … about the permaculture food forest concept . How do you direct the spacing progeny ? I do n’t mean traditional spacing like planting 20 rows of corn at 16 inches asunder and in row 2 - 3 foot apart blah blah blah , but how do you verify that you are n’t putting a plant out all by itself or vice - versa not having one flora shadow out the small bushes and shrubs and thing like that ? ”
My answer on food forest spacing
That is a huge question .
Here is a picture of part of my old food for thought timber :
There is a lot going on there !

Generally , I like to fill up up the blank with a crowd of N - fixing and biomass - producing species . I ensure that the turgid trees that you may not keep dress back , such as pecans , are place towards edge will they will not shade everything else .
I be given to start a lot of tree from seed and cuttings and plant more densely than the net food wood will be .
Know this : you may cut and flex the live daylights out of many fruit trees and keep them from overcoming the space . establish a lot more , then all the way later as the need uprise .

Nature will acquire a system .
No , not like that .
No new species are potential to spontaneously return in your intellectual nourishment forest .

However , species will arrive .
gage , insects , birds , reptiles …
Things originate to get exciting after a while as systems and checks and symmetricalness arrive .
Your initial biomass plants can be chopped and dropped to feed the Tree you really love and desire to farm solid food for you in the future .
In my bookCreate Your Own Florida Food Forest , I argue the value of a small plant life nursery area . When you are spend big money on trees and bush , it ’s hard to shorten them down and you worry too much .
you’re able to make 100 common fig trees in one weekend via cuttings .
Or a apartment of honey locust .
Or you could dumbfound cuttings of Mexican helianthus and cassava all over the place .
Even starting your own peach from germ is easy .
I allow wild trees toss off up wherever they care . Some can be grafted , others can be used for trellises , you could bung them to other tree diagram by chop them down or you could use the wood in your garden rocket stove . intellectual nourishment wood spatial arrangement is n’t a big great deal . Just watch those un - prunable trees .
Planning is all right . Over - provision may mean you never stop up with a food forest .
Nature is malleable – get out there and get implant .
No fear .